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Red Devil Cichlid...Male or Female?

hey everyone,
firt let me say im new to cichlidforums as i just registered about 10 mins ago so i dont quite know how to use it well at this point but i figured id start off focusing on my new Red Devil Cichlid. Its about 3" long and in a 75 gal. tank and im wondering if there is anyone who can determine the sex of the fish, even at this young age....in the fish store, the devil i chose was the largest and most colorful in the tank and it was chasing and nippin the other devils.
im not sure if i can do this on here but here is a link to a video i just put up on my youtube chanel of the new devil. let me know what you think

oh and the silver dollars and synodontis cat you see will be moved out within the week.
Thanks!

Hello and welcome Monster. Considering it was the dominant one in the tank at the store I would assume it is a male. I have also kept Silver Dollars with Midas Cichlids in the past with little problems till the Midas was about 2 years old. I do this to get him used to sharing a tank with other fish, even though if kept in a 75 the rest of his life he will probably try to kill anything else in the tank. Good luck and again welcome.

Hey Dave,
Thanks a lot for your input, greatly appreciated! I'm really thinking its a male as well. The chances of a female being the largest in the group AND the most aggressive are slim, right? And as for the fish that are in with him now...im planning on taking out the silver dollars but im going to try to keep my 8" synodontis Ocellifer catfish with him for a bit and see how that works out.
thanks again,

Monster my favorite fish is the RD. I hope you get a male, they are wonderful fish, so interactive and they get very attached to the owner. I have a girl and she's a darling. Keep the pics coming, I can't wait to see how he/she nochal hump develops over time. What are you going to name this tank banger??? LOL Julia

phishNphilly,
thanks! im really really excited to finally have a RD. Its one of the very few american cichlids that ive never kept and im pumped! I'll be posting frequent updates on my youtube channel that you can check out. my user name on youtube is Bingx14 and thats where ill be posting the updates. As for names (assuming its a male at this point) i was thinking "Diablo" as its spanish for Devil and sounds pretty cool. I also like the name "Dozer" becuase when i think of big red devils i think of them as aquatic bulldozers they way they dig huge pits and move everything in the tank to where they want it lol. let me know what you think! and id love any suggestions!

These fish love water changes, also do NOT get into the habit of feeder fish EVER unless you raise them yourself. My tootsie loves claypots, I keep one on each end. If you end up with a girl, she most likely will lay her eggs all around the inside of those pots. Give a variety of foods, I give mine everything including romaine. I give hakari gold as her main food tho. Mine loves krill, shrimp pellets, aquadyne, crickets and earthworms again ONLY as a monthly treat. Don't bother aquascaping their tanks, it's a lost cause. They do things their way and that's all there is to it. My Tootsie watches my every move, you will see in time this fish will come to know you and DEMAND attention from you. If you interact with this fish you will have more than a just a fish on your hands, you will have a wet mini taco bell dog, it gets ruff lol. Play with your Diablo, sit a few minutes each day and just be near the fish, my comp is right next to my fish's tank, so you can imagine our closeness. Keep the tank water pristine so you don't end up with HITH. Good filtration is a must if you end up with a male who is going to be a "tank banger" for sure. They grow FAST lol and they BITE but I still hand feed Toots her krill. Below is a vid of my fish, keep the pics coming and enjoy the antics of these insanely human like fish. Julia

Julia
Wow! what an awesome female youve got there! she looks in great condition thats sweet! lol and i actually have been doing exactly what youre saying, like i cant help but just sit by my tank and watch little Diablo swimmin around. He's even already started to flare up at my finger when i hold it close to the glass, i can tell he's gonna be a real character, as most RD's are Very nice red devil, and ill be sure to post updates and pics often!

oh and he's ALREADY started digging around in the gravel..its strange, he's trying to pile up the gravel in the front of one side of the tank. Hes still rather small to be movin around all that gravel but he's trying his best..im assuming hes staked out that area as his current territory because when he is in that area, thats when he flares up at me. I cant wait until he gets some size to him and decides the whole take is his territory lol

RD's love to dig, my tootsie digs huge piles of sand and makes moguls all over. They do this alot when they are young, now that I am thinking on it, as Toots grows older she still spits sand everywhere but not as much as she did when little. She does her major decorating after a water change tho lolol. Clean water.....if I can say one thing to you in regards to this fish is keep that water nice and clean always, never lax on it or things go bad very quickly, easy on the protein please, I killed my first RD by to much protein sigh ie: earthworms.......do you use carbon by chance? I would NOT use carbon with this fish at all IMHO.......it's highly debatable the carbon issue but we are mostly a carbonless forum. Julia

Julia,
I sent you a private message (i think i did it right) to you about the carbon issue, i hadn't even heard of the carbon vs. no carbon debate. But ive just read up a lot on it, check out my messages and let me know what you think i should do.
thanks!